Stage 1

150ks. 10 3-5k climbs lay ahead of us. It turned out to be a decent day none of the climbs were to steep. I made it over all of them with the front group. 50 guys got dropped along the way. Narrowing the field down from 185 to about 135.

Stage 2

135ks another 9 climbs. I was at the front for the first 75ks going with moves feeling really good. The last few climbs were way to steep for my taste, and I got shelled from the front group with 40ks to go. I finished somewhere in between the front peleton and the back peleton around 70th. Losing 9 minutes.

Stage 3

The one I was waiting for a 12k tt. The first 3ks were uphill around 8%. I prerode the course and felt pretty confident. I was only worried that I would have the guts to ride the last 3ks full out. It started with a 90+kph descent into a gradual switchback which could be ridden in the areo bars. Then at the bottom a right turn into a round about followed by a sharp right turn on to cobbles. Left onto a straight on flat super smooth road where you could get up to 60 kph after a kilometer on that it was a right hand turn into the finish.

I started out up the hill in the little ring. I tried to shift it up into the big ring as the climb flattened out a little, It wouldn't get up there. I had to reach down to do some manual shifting. I stayed in the big ring the rest of the climb if anything it made me go a little harder. I found out after in 3k of uphill I was already 25 seconds behind the fastest split on our team. It was go time, I didn't even need to standing over the rollers I carried so much speed. I was just cruising in the 53-11 over everything. I was picking up 5 seconds a kilometer over the team time splits. I just kept going faster and faster. I wish I had another 5k of flat. I finished 26th. 5 seconds out of a top 20 spot.

Stage 4

The final stage we knew would be a tough one. The picture posted below was from one of the climbs on the circuit. The first 3 climbs came in the first 20k of the 110k race. We were told they were the easy one. I got dropped at the 18k mark with about 20 other people, I caught back onto the group. The next climb I hung on again. We passed under the finish for the first time and headed out on the local laps. It was a race to the first 3k climb which stayed at 12-15% I raced up to a top 30 spot at the bottom. I was lucky to, I lost maybe 20 spots up the climb. I looked back over the top and I was the last person to make it over in the front group. It split up over the top in the cross wind, I found myself at the wrong end. We chased back on and caught on right before the bottom of lara-doute. I got dropped when it kicked up over 20%. I found myself in a group of 4. Soon the broom wagon was behind us. I wanted to throw in the towel but with only 25ks to go the 4 of us just rode steady. I finished the stage content with just finished. Less the 45 people finished out of the 185 starters.